For many years – way before ever becoming a parent – I have dreaded the day one of my children decides to slice their finger, break one of their bones, or simply do anything that would cause blood or bones to protrude from their little bodies. I have often joked that I will need to train my children to call 911 no matter what state they’re in as I am going to be passed out on the ground/floor somewhere incapacitated and unable to help them! From all my past experiences, I can’t fullly believe that my maternal instinct will hold me over and that I won’t be affected by what has been my achiles heal for so long!
Well who knew, after just a few short weeks, Kolby would put me through my first test. And I think I’m both relieved and terrified for what is yet to come …
For some reason, Kolby decided to keep his end of the umbilical cord attached for way longer than he was suppossed to. As new parents, we had purchased the newborn diapers with the little cut-out for the belly button, we were following doctor’s orders of not putting rubbing alcohol on the stump, and were eagerly anticipating a quick fall off so we could start giving him real baths! But two, three, and four weeks went by and he was still firmly holding on to what once used to be his life line. When we went in for his one month check up, they weren’t too concerned since he was so healthy in every other way but ordered some blood work just to make sure everything, internally, was looking normal.
So, we made another trip into the doctor’s office so they could draw some blood. On a little baby, they simply poke his little heel and squeeze out tiny bits of blood into a tiny little vile. Outside of the initial prick, Kolby did great! And – as for me – my job was to simply keep him from crying. So, I held him, kept the binkie in his mouth and stared at his face. All things I knew I could manage. And it worked! No headache, no queeziness, and no light-headedness. Small victories!
When the test results came back, the doctor informed us that Kolby’s white blood cell count was a little low. Not really low, just a little low. But a count just a little lower than normal can be an early indicator of some pretty bad illnesses. So, the doctor ordered another blood test. One that required more blood than a little tiny vile. One that required the blood to be drawn from his little, tiny arm like a big, grown adult.
And if this was the first indication of how I’ll react to Kolby getting sick or injured, I totally failed. Why? Because I started to worry. I tried not to – really – but I just couldn’t help myself! I didn’t want to think that anything could be wrong with my perfect little man!
Apparently this test was a special test. The blood had to be drawn between certain hours and only on certain days of the week. Once the blood was drawn, it needed to be shipped up to Salt Lake City so the tests could be conducted. The doctor expressed that she really wasn’t too worried, but she would much rather be safe than sorry. And I agreed.
So, Kolby and I headed to the lab – with a rush order – and waited for his name to be called. It’s probably a good thing I was so concentrated on getting Kolby to sleep … because if I actually thought about what was going to happen, I may have gotten light-headed even before it all started!
The sweetest nurse called us back and had me sit in the chair holding Kolby – who had not fallen asleep, mind you. She told me she would be using a butterfly needle and would need the help of a second nurse to draw the blood out of Kolby’s arm as she held the needle in place. I’m sure all I was thinking at the time was, ‘I trust your process. Let’s just get this over with!’
So they poked his little arm …
And he started crying. She missed the vein on the first prick. So she fished the needle around in his arm trying to find it. I did my best not to look and simply concentrate on soothing my little man. She finally got the vein and the second nurse started pulling the suction to draw the blood out. And it just wouldn’t come out. So we switched arms and the process started again – poke, cry, fish, draw. When they finally got the vein in the other arm, the blood started flowing great. Thank goodness!
(What’s really sad is that I’m starting to get light-headed just typing this all up! Oy!)
Kolby was still crying. And although it was sad to hear him cry, I expected it. So, I was doing okay. The nurse then loosened the tension on his arm just a little bit and he stopped crying! I was amazed! He was being such a champ! I guess I figured since he was doing so great, I’d take a look to see how much blood they had been able to draw out! Don’t ask me why I thought that was a good idea …
The doctor had told me they could only take 3 oz of blood out of a baby so little. As I looked at the vile, I noticed the blood had passed the 3 oz marker and they were still drawing! I mentioned it to the nurse and they said because he weighed as much as he did, they could draw 6 oz out!
And that was my cue.
As they were finishing up with drawing the last ounce out, I started getting light-headed. I focused all my attention back on Kolby – who was still doing great! – and figured as long as I didn’t look at the vile anymore, I could make it!
Silly me for thinking I could stop the inevitable!
As they pulled the needle out and wrapped up his little arm, my world started getting heavy and closing in on me. As I mentioned what was happening to the nurse, I passed my baby off to her right as she started asking, ‘Do you need to me to take him?’ I slid out of the chair and onto the floor as the second nurse ran to get me a cold compress and a glass of cold water.
And true to form, just a few minutes later, I was able to sit myself back up and started feeling normal again. I did this just in time to hear another nurse walk past our room and say, ‘I thought we were drawing blood from the baby!’
Why yes, yes we were.
As I thought about things on my way home, I was relieved to know I waited until things with Kolby had wrapped up before I started having a problem. But, at the same time, I was still uneasy about it all as this was just a blood draw! If I couldn’t hold myself together in a controlled setting, what the heck is going to happen when things are much more chaotic and unplanned!?
Well, I guess that will have to be another blog post …
P.S. The umbilical cord fell off the afternoon of the blood draw and the test results came back normal!
My Quirky Life 
